Reader's Watchdog: U of I cuts its parking ramp fees

Hospital patients and visitors will pay $10 rather than $18 to park; other options exist.

Jan. 9, 2014

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Parking rates for patients and visitors at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics will be slashed in the wake of complaints to The Des Moines Register Reader’s Watchdog about excessive charges.

Kenneth P. Kates, chief executive officer of the UIHC, and David Ricketts, parking system director, announced Thursday that the maximum rate for daily parking in a ramp at the hospital would drop from $18 to $10 starting Monday for those with validated parking stubs.

The new rates are not as low as some advocates for patients had hoped for, but they are more in line with charges at other Big 10 campuses, Ricketts said.

“We just sat down and decided we could do what we could,” he said.

The announcement came as teams of patients, their families and other Iowans voiced frustration and signed a petition condemning the high cost of parking at the hospital complex, which is densely populated but serves thousands of low-income families. Rate increases for the entire U of I parking system also were planned over the next five years to pay for major projects.

After Watchdog readers voiced complaints in December, hospital officials expressed concern that any changes in parking rates could affect patient care at the UIHC. The estimated $1.4 million cost of the changes announced Thursday will come out of the budget of the parking department, U of I spokesman Tom Moore said.

Ricketts noted that the $10 rate was only for hospital patients and visitors with tickets validated in the UIHC, not for faculty or students.

Other changes announced Thursday include:

• Increasing free parking at UIHC ramps for patients from the first 15 minutes to 30 minutes.

• Reducing the rate for the next hour in ramps from 90 cents to 60 cents.

• Providing free parking for patients and families in the Hawkeye Commuter lot about two miles from the hospital.

• Giving families the option of a three-day discount ramp pass for $27, as well as a seven-day pass for $58.

Ricketts said the parking system will absorb the cost by delaying certain aesthetic projects planned during the construction of a new underground lot at the children’s hospital and in savings from increased automation this year of the entire parking system. “It kind of puts us at our limit,” he said. “It’s a significant impact on the system.”

Reader Tom Leohr of Waterloo first contacted the Reader’s Watchdog in December during a fight for lower parking rates at the U of I’s children’s hospital. Leohr said his granddaughter has leukemia and her family could not afford to pay the $18-a-day ramp rates each time the girl is hospitalized.

Leohr began a Facebook group, GrampsVsRamps, which gained more than 660 members, many of them family members of former patients.

Afterward, Jan Pratt, also of Waterloo, wrote the Reader’s Watchdog, saying she had started a petition last summer that she intended to present to Kates and other hospital officials early this month.

Carla Leohr said she and her husband are grateful to the university for altering the rates. She and her husband believe they will make a difference for poor families, but they still wonder if more changes might be warranted.

“It’s good news this happened this quickly,” she said. “At least now there is a free option available.”

In a statement, Kates and Ricketts said the improvements reflect “our shared commitment to ensure the best possible experience for our patients, their families, and visitors.”

The nonprofit hospital plans to provide more specific instructions to staff, patients and visitors about the validation process for the new rates over the next few days.

Lee Rood’s Reader’s Watchdog column helps Iowans get answers and accountability from public officials, the justice system, businesses and nonprofits. Contact her at lrood@dmreg.com or 515-284-8549.